Electric fire-arm



(No Model.)

P. E. KINSMAN.

ELECTRIC FIRE ARM.

Ihvrrnn STATES PATENT @rrrca.

FRANK E. KINSMAN, OF PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

ELECTRIC FIRE-ARM.

EBI-ECIFECATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,546, dated May 12, 1885.

Application filed November 1, 1883. '(No model Plainfield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Electric Fire Arms, of which the following is a specification.

Blasting cartridges and heavy ordnance have been discharged by electricity either by a spark or by the heating of a conductor.

My present invention is for the purpose of firing the cartridge in a gun or other portable fire-arm by an electric battery contained within the stock or below the barrel.

In carrying out my invention I construct the circuit-connections so that they are brought into action by the trigger, and I lock the parts so that the cartridge cannot be fired until the small of the stock has been grasped preparatory to firing, thereby preventing risk of accidental closing of the circuit.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view, partially in section, of a gun with my improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a section in larger size of a cartridge with the circuit-connections. Fig. 3 is a view of the face of the breech-pin, and Fig. 4 shows the parts as adapted to a muzzleloading gun.

The gun-stock A and barrel B are of ordinary form externally.

The gun may be either a muzzle-loader or a breech-loader, as my electric connections or devices are adapted to either.

Within the stock A there is a recess containing a suitable battery, D. It may be a galvanic battery, or a secondary or storage, or any other character of battery. It is to be capable of being closed, so as to prevent the contents being spilled in handling the gun. This is preferably accomplished by leading the conductors b 0 through insulating-plugs fitted tightly into openings in the battery-case, and by providing a screw-plug, d, at the charging-opening. The battery may be placed beneath the barrel or in any other convenient position. The conductor 1) passes to the bar rel of the gun, or to the breech-piece s, and the conductor 0 passes to the contact-lever e, that is provided with a bevel end adjacent to but not in contact with the spring circuit-closer h. In consequence of the ends of the spring contact-lever e and circuit-closer h standing at an inclination, thereis a rubbing action between the surfaces when the contact-lever c is brought against the circuit-closer h,- hence the surfaces are kept clean. I provide a trigger, is, as usual in guns, and I place the contact-lever e in a position-to be moved by the trigger, so that when the gun is to be fired the pull of the trigger brings the contact-lever 6 into contact with the spring circuit-closer h. If these parts only are used, there will be a risk of the electric circuit being closed accidentally and firing the gun. To avoid this I employ the trigger-holder Z, in the form of a latch, with a spring-shank attached at 2, and provided with an arm or pusher, m, that projects at one end through the lower part of the gun-stock at the small of the same, so that when the stock is grasped by the hand and the finger extended toward the trigger 7c the pusher on will be within the hand and pushed in by the grasp of the hand around the small of the stock. This causes the trigger-holder to separate from the trigger, so that the trigger can be operated by hand; but the parts will always be locked out of use, except when the stock is grasped in the right place or purposely unlocked.

When this improvement is used with a muzzle-loading gun, the end of the wire 1' from the spring circuit-closer h is connected to the wire 0, that passes in through a hole in the breech, and is surrounded by insulating material such as a plug of hard wood or vulcaniteperforated for the passage of the wire, and secured or driven with force into a tapering hole. At the end of this wireo is an exploder in the form of a fine wire of platinum at s, with the other end attached to the barrel or to the breech. In this manner the return-circuit is through the eXploder and barrel and the wire I). This exploder may rest upon a piece of' glass or' other insulated support to protect it from injury.

- other to the contact-lever of the other trigger.

Where metallic cartridge-cases are employed, I make the contact-point by preference at or near the center of the cartridge, as at t. The

conductor is insulated, and the end of the circuit-closer in the breech-pin terminates as a spring, 12, which is compressed at tagainst the rear end of 0 as the breech is closed. The platina exploder s within the cartridge is connected at one end to the central contact-piece, 0, and at the other end to the inside of the case or cap 2, holding the insulating material. This is preferably inserted from the front part of either the cartridge or the breech, and rests against a shoulder. Care may be taken to keep the platina Wire sufficiently distant from the base of the cartridge to allow for powder in charging the cartridge to pass down around such platina wire. I also remark that usually the conductor in the base of the cartridge may be covered with an insulating material and pass through a zigzag hole in the breech or the base of the cartridge. The return-circuit may be through a second wire instead of the metal of the breech or cartridge. In this case two spring-contacts, 12, may be provided in the breech-block s. The circuit-wires may be passed through the hole in the breech-block usually containing the firing-pin. Vith muzzle-loaders the insulated conductors can be passed through the touch-hole in place of the percussion-cap nipple. In all cases a spark may be used in place of a platina wire where there is an inductoriuxn introduced into the circuit.

I do not claim exploding a cartridge by means of a battery, nor a battery contained in the stock of a gun. By my improvement the circuit is completed. through the center of the cartridge, and I am enabled to employ fixed ammunition, and there is no difficultyin closing the circuit, because one contact is made at the center, and the other contact is through the metal of the gun.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with a cartridge, of an insulated central metallic conductor and a fine wire of platina or similar metal in the powder-space connected at one end to the central metallic conductor and at the other end to the metallic portion of the exterior of the cartridge-case, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, in a gun, of an electric battery, a circuit-closer, a trigger to operate the same, and a trigger lock and pusher, substantially as set forth, whereby the triggerlock is disengaged by the pressure of the hand in grasping the gun.

3. A fire-arm having a chamber adapted to receive a cartridge, a battery or other source of electric energy in the stock or below the barrel, and an insulated conductor at the center of the breech, in combination with a circuit-closer operated by the trigger, and a cartridge having a central'insulated conductor in the base, and an incandescing conductor within the powder-chamber, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, in a breech-loading firearm, of a battery, a central insulated conductor in the breech, a conductor connected with the metallic portion of the gun, a trigger, an insulated circuit-closing device actuated by the trigger, substantially as set forth.

7 Signed by me this 29th day of October, A.

FRANK E. KINSMAN.

Witnesses:

GEo. T. PINoKNEY, WILLIAM G. Morr. I 

